Italian financial police have dismantled a shadow bank serving the ‘Ndrangheta and the Camorra, operated from a car rental company in Pero, near Milan. Thirty people were arrested and €21 million in assets seized, including cryptocurrencies. The network combined false invoices, cash payments and bank transfers before routing part of the proceeds through crypto platforms.
🔑 Key takeaways
- Thirty people arrested: 16 held in pretrial detention and 14 placed under house arrest.
- €21 million in assets seized, roughly $23.6 million.
- More than €110 million in false invoices issued by shell companies.
- About €68 million moved abroad, then routed through crypto exchanges into network-controlled wallets.
A shadow bank hidden behind a car rental business
According to the public record, the rental company in Pero functioned as an underground bank serving organized crime groups. Three Italian men ran it. Two of them had long-standing ties to ‘Ndrangheta clans in Crotone and had already been convicted in other mafia investigations. The third was a member of the Casalesi clan of the Camorra. Chinese and Albanian accomplices are also alleged to have taken part in running the network, according to information available so far.
Shell companies at the core of the scheme
The mechanism relied on shell companies that issued more than €110 million in invoices for services that were never provided. Client businesses used these invoices to reduce their tax bills. They paid the amounts by bank transfer, then received part of the money back in cash, minus a commission. The process turned funds of opaque origin into cash that appeared clean.
| Item | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Fictitious invoices issued | more than €110M |
| Funds sent abroad (prosecutor estimate) | about €68M |
| Assets seized | €21M (about $23.6M) |
| People arrested | 30 |
| Pretrial detention / house arrest | 16 / 14 |
| Arrests in Spain / Switzerland | 2 / 1 |
A cross-border circuit mixing cash, banks and crypto assets
Milan prosecutors estimate that about €68 million was transferred abroad. According to Bloomberg, funds accumulated in accounts held by the shell companies were first sent to banks in Luxembourg, Lithuania and Germany. They were then routed through cryptocurrency exchanges into wallets controlled by the network.
The laundering process step by step
- Shell companies issue false invoices.
- The client pays by bank transfer.
- Part of the amount is returned in cash, minus a commission.
- Funds move to European banks.
- Money is converted into cryptocurrencies through exchanges.
- Assets are held in wallets controlled by the suspects.
A conversion service for drug traffickers
The network also offered a conversion service to drug traffickers. Those who handed over cash received cryptocurrency or international bank transfers in return. Investigators said the network also handled money stolen from victims of online crypto investment scams.
“All criminal organizations, including those of the Mafia type, have an interest in using these instruments for their business.”
Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate (DIA), 2021 report
Investigators and officials under scrutiny
The case has an unusual dimension: several people close to law enforcement or the judiciary were arrested or placed under house arrest. According to the Calabrian outlet LaC News24, one suspect is a Guardia di Finanza inspector accused of corruption. Another is an employee of a Milan court accused of disclosing information about ongoing investigations. A lawyer and a former member of the financial police are also involved.
The investigation drew on the technology fraud unit of the Guardia di Finanza. The evidentiary material is contained in a court order of more than 500 pages.
A long-running trend and remaining gaps
Italian authorities have warned for several years that organized crime is incorporating digital assets into its financial activities. This operation combines traditional laundering tools, including cash payments, false invoices and shell companies, with transfers through European banks, exchanges and wallets controlled by the suspects.
Several points remain undocumented: the value of the seized cryptocurrency, the identities of the 30 suspects, the specific exchanges involved and the time span covered by the network. No direct market reaction to the arrests has been reported. The CryptoPanic summary of Decrypt’s coverage describes the company as an underground bank used by figures linked to the ‘Ndrangheta and the Camorra to move money abroad and into crypto.
Outlook: tighter oversight of crypto flows
The case shows that cryptocurrencies are only one link in a broader laundering chain, in which cash, false invoices and traditional banks remain central. For exchanges, the message is clear: monitoring inbound and outbound flows, particularly to wallets linked to third parties, remains a major compliance challenge.
Three scenarios stand out. In the base case, the investigation leads to trials and confiscations without any visible impact on Bitcoin or other major assets. In a tightening scenario, European regulators strengthen traceability obligations for crypto service providers. A displacement scenario, in which networks migrate to other jurisdictions or other assets, remains plausible and would reinforce the case for international cooperation.
Sources
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